When We Were Sisters: a Novel by Fatimah Asghar

Author:Fatimah Asghar [Asghar, Fatimah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2022-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

Aalia always wears dresses and jewelry, the smell of jasmine following her when she walks. Her makeup isn’t from the dollar store: it comes in shiny packages that get delivered to our apartment, little bits of confetti to cushion its journey. Or else my Uncle brings it to her, little gifts he presents her with as they sip their chai. Noreen scoffs, jealous. I stand in the kitchen, taking extra long to wash the dishes so that I can watch Aalia as she dips her brush into the yellow pressed powder, drawing it across her eyelids.

Come here,

she says and I didn’t realize it was so obvious that I was watching her, that she could feel me staring. I slowly put the sponge down, wiping down the sink, nervous. My small feet guiding me into her room, the one that used to be Aunty and Meemoo’s, towards her, where I stand behind her and we look at each other through the mirror that she’s propped up against the wall. She smiles, warm, honey-sweet.

Tucked neatly on her desk is the missing person’s paper that she found in our room, that she showed Uncle ██████. I’m not living in an apartment with an insane person, Uncle, I heard her say, Uncle ██████’s lips turning into a frown. And after that, Tiffany was gone from the apartment too, missing. And we realized then: Aalia has the power to make people leave or stay.

She gently plays with her silver ring, slipping it off her finger slowly.

Here.

I put it on my finger and look at it contrasted against my brown skin. It shines, makes me less dull.

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